Will Byron.com

Lake Placid 2008 Race Report by Will Power

Please excuse all the spelling and grammatical mistakes.

There are also pictures in the middle and at the very end

A first Ironman is certainly a journey. The thought of which usually doesn’t just pop up out of nowhere but is a result of many experiences in life that lead you to be motivated and inspired in such a way that one day you make a decision to spend anywhere form 6 to 18 months to train for it.. I want to tell my story  so the reader can feel some of what I felt during my journey. Part of the story may bore the seasoned ironman but it is geared for the first timers who strive to be an ironman or the triathlete who can’t get enough of reading inspiring stories.

My journey began 26 years ago as a teenager when I decided to join the

Marine corps. I watched Sylvestor Stallones Movie First Blood 50 times and knew every word in the movie. I went to the recruiters office with my hair down to my shoulders, a cut off ripped jean jacket, a bandana hanging from my leather patched corduroy pants with the intention on joining the green berets or the navy seals. The army and navy office was closed but a 6 ft 5 marine stepped out of the office in dress blues and he grabbed the cigarette pack from my pocket and opened it.  He “politely” dragged me by the ear into his office and put me in front of the infamous marine corps recruit video . This is the more updated one. How could I not join after seeing something like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFeHoMhuz7A

            Many years of abusing my body with bad food left me in pretty bad shape but mentally I still felt like I could do anything. Growing up in some of the toughest parts of Brooklyn and fighting my way to school most mornings set me up towards a mindset that the military was for me and would be a piece of cake.  I started running ¼ mile for a few days and worked my way up to 22 miles over 9 months to prepare for bootcamp. I was officially an endurance junky. I would get up at 5.50 am every morning and start my run at 6am. Often I would see my friends just getting home from an all nighter of popping quay ludes or acid and knew I had made the right choice to get away from that scene and never got involved with that stuff. I would go on to watch the Ironman on NBC and couldn’t quite understand how they did it. The running I could imagine a little but not the swimming and biking. Swimming hurt after one lap in a 10 yard swimming pool and Biking hurt your ass too much. After graduating marine corps bootcamp in the top 5 of my class (73 people started in my platoon and only 39 graduated) you already feel anything is possible. I would end up in paramilitary unit and needed to get  through 3rd brigade training for 3 months which was 3 hours exercise 5 days a week in order to go to jump school which was 3 weeks long, we would go on 13 mile ninja runs and do obstacle courses and carry logs and doggie paddles across ponds and I loved the endurance but it hurt. I loved the running more than anything in the marines and when I decided to go to college to avoid going back to the city, I couldn’t resist joining the cross country and track team despite of course being the biggest athlete on the team. I would go on to win Most Improved athlete and become the team mentor. They loved it when I sang marine corps songs while we were out on 10 mile runs. I knew all the filthy ones as well as the clean ones because I was often called on to sing the chants while in the marines. I had about 30 minutes of memorized chants. I was the oldest on the team also. I would sometimes (after watching the ironman on NBC ) attempt the cross training of swimming and biking to complement the 60 miles a week of running but without coaching or knowledge of those sports I would stop after one or two sessions. My coach was, and still is the coach of the Westchester Track  Club (Coach Barnow) and has trained many Olympic athletes. He felt I would be a better 800 runner because of my size but I couldn’t get under 2:07 for the 800. It wasn’t in the genes. That was usually 5 seconds slower than the heat winner and 10 seconds or more slower than the race winner. I missed endurance but still trained with the long distance guys. I would of rather done an 8 mile fartleck run than 8 four hundreds in 62 seconds although the 400’s were good training I felt they led to more of my injuries of shin splints primarily. I managed to sneak in a half marathon during college in 1 hr 27 min and the NYC marathon in 3:48 minutes behind my coaches back. I didn’t specifically train for them or have any idea what I was doing. We never drank water on any of the training runs or had pre-or post race nutrition. However, I didn’t drink any during my half marathon either. I did during NY and when I started  to cramp at mile 22, I thought I drank too much (About 1 cup an hour, duh). Needless to say I was dehydrated and needed electrolytes and calories but I didn’t know that till 12 years later. I felt I could have ran 3:10 that day. I am scheduled to run marine corps this year but I am going to defer it to next year and work on breaking 4 hrs again. After college when I went to the corporate world it was difficult if not impossible to train. I slowly began  6 years of partying , chasing the millionaire dream and getting out of shape while once in a while entering a race to only find out that without the same training I had in college my large frame couldn’t handle an 18 minute 5k anymore without pulling 3 muscles and limping at the end of the race. Reality was hitting that my marathon days may be over since I couldn’t even run my 5ks anymore without getting hurt.  At the time I didn’t realize how my acidic diet was playing a crucial role in keeping me injured. I was constantly in an acidic, inflammatory state and the answer was not to take prescribed anti-inflammatories but to learn of natural remedies.

In 2000 I got a card in the mail from team in training to do a marathon and I felt it was my ticket back to endurance events. My father had lymphoma and my uncle died of leukemia so I thought the cause was good also. I went crazy and ran 26 races that year and injured every muscle in my body. MY IT Band went on to hurt for 7 years. Every time I ran it started to hurt at 2 or 3 miles. Unfortunately all the doctors I went too kept telling me I had arthritis and was too large to run and so I went on to party myself to death since I would of course never run again in my mind since I signed over the outcome of my future health over to doctors.

In Jan 2007, at 243 lbs, I couldn’t walk up a flight of stairs without breathing heavy. I decided to go to some self development conferences, I quit my day job since in my mind it was a huge cause of stress for both me and my wife to be working 12 hour days simultaneously. On top of that 2 kids under age 7, 2 franchise retail stores and a few other side businesses kept my stress levels at 100%. The financial pressures were there but making a lot of money wasn’t solving any problems. You think that it does but once you get it you realize you cant buy true passion or desire or love or happiness.  In fact most people use money to create a pleasure that they are seeking which is some form of excitement, some lift in self-esteem, or some level of self fulfillment. Drugs and alcohol take people to a place that they are unable to get to sober. Overeating or emotional eating does the same thing. To figure out how to get to that state without those things is a true breakthrough for anyone.  I decided I was going to figure out a way to run again because exercise and competition brings me to that place of self-esteem, excitement and pleasure.

I went to a conference called Life directions and you do all these exercises about the first thing that comes to your mind if you had all the money in the world, you write your own eulogy, etc, Doing a triathlon came up a lot as well as doing an ironman although the thought of that seemed far off. I ended up putting a card in my pocket called a Pocket Promise in which I wrote “I will complete the  ironman triathlon within 5 years” (The Monday after the race my daughter reminded me I fulfilled my pocket promise). I didn’t know there were ironmans outside of the one on NBC. I would carry the card in my pocket every day until it happened. What seemed like just a week later, I got a card in the mail from team in training about doing a century ride in lake tahoe.  A light bulb went on that perhaps if I strengthened my legs and lost weight I would be able to just run 5k’s even if the IT band hurt . Then I would be happy I thought. I mean you have to understand that for seven years my “story” was that I will never run again. The doctors say I’m too big to be a runner and I have arthritis and and and and and and.

I had too many reasons for wanting to run again and do an ironman that I would not listen to the doctors (Podiatrist, orthopedic guys, Pedorthist, chiropractors, HMO doctors, etc). I would go on to eat better and introduce running back into my life again which was always one  of my biggest self-esteem boosters. I also always wanted to experience the Olympics when I was younger but knew I never even had the chance to even find out if I could of did it. I didn’t grow up with the silver spoon so to speak where I had all these opportunities to compete in different sports. All the sports were played on concrete and the influential people in my life were just not there. Ironman gave me a way to feel like I was in the Olympics for a day as an amateur. I wanted to be a hero to my kids which I accomplished. There is just so much good that comes out of it such as the ability to cross train. I get to motivate and inspire people around me. Despite the fact that being in a tri club and going to tri races makes you feel like ironman are a dime a dozen, I did not meet someone who completed an ironman ever in my life until I was 42 and met Dennis White (the regional tri coach at team in training. He was trained by  Dave Scott who is the Team in training National Tri coach). He inspired me and I want to inspire others. In fact there is only about 1 ironman out of every 2 million people on the planet from what I have read. And yes when you are around some of the best athletes around at these events it may seem like not a big deal when you hear people that have done 50 or even 100 ironmans but those people are just a handful on the planet. It is a big deal and no one should feel less of a triathlete because they barely finish an ironman or have only did one. Think of how many people are in awe of someone who even does a 5k or a sprint triathlon. So you have to keep things  in perspective. Someone gets a slot for Kona and they are worshipped by other people and feel like their accomplishments are less important. I admire great talent but I have just as much respect for those brothers and sisters that crossed in 16:59 that were swatting away the bats with me at mile 22. There will always be someone better than you. Even the pros do not finish their ironman on occasion and if they do make it to the top they usually will be knocked off by someone else soon. So if you strive to be an ironman do it at your pace and for your level of ability and you will get to the finish. Its great to see every one out on the course working to finish their ironman. You know what they have went through to get there. The sacrifices, all the hard training. I saw Jen on her run and she was having stomach problems with many miles to go. This can happen to anyone and to push yourself through to the finish in an uncomfortable state is admirable and satisfying. I wanted to help everyone out on the course. You see people with flats (over 50) and you know they are miserable in the mud changing the tire. You know it can happen to you at any moment. You have no control and have to be prepared for everything in ironman.

That’s what makes it so special. You don’t know what you will feel like on race day, what the conditions will be like, the mechanical issues you will have like my goggles that filled with water, or the pro that got kicked in the eye and came out of the water with a huge black eye, or the pro that crashed and went to the hospital, or the guy in front of me that wobbled left, then right, then just fell down to his knees. Of course he said “I’m fine” I will make it. And He did!! Everyone is so focused and dedicated. Erika L is a great athlete and had a great race and she will even do better in the future. I loved seeing everyone go for their first ironman. We worked hard.

So anyway I had to get my mentality from “Maybe I could just a run a 5k once in a while” to “I am going to train for an Ironman”

 Well, one of the conferences I went to was called Extreme Health which brought together some of the greatest current thinking on cutting edge Health and wellness. Thank heavens David Wolfe was at this conference because he changed my life forever and was a key turning point in my life to realize anything is possible with good nutrition.  Nutrition I had heard was the 4th discipline in Triathlon and I was going to maximize that 100%.

In fact The Catch A healthy Habit Café Owner Glen’s entire store concept is based on the foods that David Wolfe sells and teaches about. David Wolfe has done over 3000 lectures on health and wellness and is  the worlds leading authority on Raw food and organic wellness. There is no doubt that raw food is the healthiest. Cooked food immediately destroys the live enzymes and 50% or more of the nutrients. If you can get past the addiction that taste is the only thing that matters on the planet then moving towards raw foods (even just 75% like I do) will change your life. You can live to over 100 in great health (Not with oatmeal dripping from your mouth in a nursing home).

            You can rebuild every cell in your body in a 7 year period and about 90% of those cells in 2 years. So in two years you are almost 100% different than what you are made of today if you can only put in your mouth what your body can use for great health instead of saying to itself. (Incomingggggggg) and calling on the liver and immune system 24 hours  a day to battle the toxins)

 I listened to David Wolfe talk about how foods could heal everything from obesity, to ATHRITIS, prevent cancer, cleanse your intestines make you become less acidic. (You mean I don’t have to take TUMS and the “purple pill” for the rest of my life like I was told) . I forgave myself for years of abuse. I knew it wasn’t my fault completely. We are victims of out environment . The things we are taught and see as kids, the advertising on TV, the lack of the truth being right on front of you, (It has to be looked for because the truth will cost a lot of industries tons of money)

            Between training for lake tahoe and changing my eating habits 100% I completely reversed all illnesses and injuries I ever had. Can you imagine doing ironman training and never getting sick once?  I did it and I owe it to foods. There are no secrets here. Period. I haven’t been too a doctor since 2006. I’ve trained 1000’s of miles to get ready for lake placid, swam over 100,000 yards and ran 100’s of miles. I’ve reduced cholesterol by 70 points, blood pressure, Thyroid levels from bad to good numbers, weight from 243 to 200.4 before race day, increased brain neurotransmitter levels of dopamine, tryptophane and serotonin, normalized mineral levels and amino acid levels, have “perfect blood. Some of the best I’ve seen” as was told to me by someone who has analyzed thousands of blood samples and is a master herbalist by the name of susan hutchins, lowered resting heart rate from 59 to 35, cleansed parasites from the intestinal tract, and I could go on and on. My only injuries came twice in the form of calf injuries from basically altering from my training schedule 2 times. Both healed in less than 2 weeks with all the natural anti-inflammatories that I take such as Turmeric, Enzymes, Ginger, MSM, Yucca Root, Bosweilla, Mangosteen, Vitamin C with Bioflavonoids, etc.

            Before the Lake tahoe 2007 century ride,  I got yet another card in the mail to do a half ironman from team in training. It seemed like the ducks were starting to line up. I hadn’t even done a triathlon yet. Could I do a Half-ironman. Yikes my ass is in trouble from the bike and I cant swim. Well I emailed a guy from team in training who  knew me from when I did the Vermont city marathon back in 2000 (When I tortured my IT BAND and walked the last 10 miles of the race) He said with my endurance experience and doing lake tahoe century he didn’t think it was a problem and I could definitely do it if I learned to swim which they would train me to do. All I needed was that email I got from him to sign up for the half ironman. I would jump off the half-ironman building and  grow wings on the way down. This was April of 2007. I decided for 3 days a week I was going to swim at least 4 laps. I only swam 1 lap and looked at the life guard. He looked at me and realized he would be watching me for a while. (After 3 months I would go on to swim over 1.5 miles in that pool and that same life guard was in disbelief at my progress and was in awe of me) Damn that’s the embarrassing part you have to get through (Besides falling off your bike when you first get cleats which I’ve heard stories about but it hasn’t happened to me except for once in my driveway)  A friend of mine who swam in high school would go on to say I was supposed to blow out air with my face in the water and turn my head to breath. I would then realize there was something called a pull Buoy that would hold up my 150 lb legs and allow my to concentrate on my stroke more instead of gasping for air. I would be told I swim flat and you were supposed to rotate your body and reach and glide, and that my head wasn’t supposed to twist back and forth but stay steady. Within a month I could swim over 800 yards. I have been swimming 3 days a week ever since except for nov and December where I went down to 1 day a week. I could now swim, although when people pass me like I’m standing still in the water it baffles me. The century rides indeed did increase my leg strength and allowed my running to get up to about 4 miles without the IT band hurting. I therefore couldn’t get my training over 7 miles for the half ironman so I planned on walking after 7 miles. I actually started at 6 miles. I joined the sharks right after my first century and before the half ironman and had told Clint in my sign up questionnaire I planned on doing an ironman within 5 years. I was actually a little hesitant to say that because I did not know what the training entailed in that I did not read any books about it because my thought process was I was going to lose weight first and wait a few years. However, he mentioned doing lake placid in 2008 and at first I figured since he had done ironman’s before (He was the 2nd ironman I ever met) he must have thought it was at least possible for me to do it by the next year. So that’s when I decided to do lake placid. I bought 6 books on ironman training and racing since and have read over 100 blogs of athletes who have raced lake placid. I also never stopped asking questions. My nutrition knowledge by then had become at what I feel is expert level at least compared to most people. I did get a nutrition certification but I do not have my masters in nutrition. My knowledge comes from self study of David Wolfe’s books and his conferences as well as dozens of other books such as Sports nutrition for the endurance athlete (Monique Ryan) which although it doesn’t have a chapter on superfoods and raw foods is the best one that I have read on sports nutrition specifically. David Wolfe has spent 20 years at 16 hours a day finding the best nutrition in the world for healing and health. I know him and he hasn’t been sick in over 10 years. I figured I mind as well read all his stuff and learn from the best. I did need to learn ironman specific nutrition information. However, all the horror stories I hear about people not having good nutrition I had to ignore because for one I knew my digestive system was rebuilt from the inside out by eating the right foods, cleansing, hydrotherapy, Probiotics, not taking anti-biotics anymore, eating organic, staying away from hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup (A main ingredient in Gatorade endurance) , etc. If you put junk in your body it will not be happy for very long. If your intestines have a hard coating around them protecting itself from pesticides and bad grains and oils then it will not be able to absorb 100% of anything good that is eaten. Anyway, this was a part that I basically trusted my instincts and went with as much natural substances as possible taking into consideration that some of the healthier carbs are higher in fiber so I would have to adjust to this and mix some not so good with some good. Nutrition outside of your training is extremely important but so is the nutrition during training. I spoke at length with many ironman athletes but took it all with a grain of salt. I knew the information even though may work for them may not have worked for me. However There is certainly some information that is universal for 95% of the people because it is science based such as osmality, absorption of water and calories, types of carbohydrates, aerobic vs anaerobic and its affect on burning fat vs glycogen. The need to do the long bike as your key workout. Developing technique in swimming, staying efficient with running technique, taking days off to heal, recovery drinks, pre-race meals, etc. But the details of all of these I felt would be better tweaked, experimented with and fine tuned to work for me as a Clydesdale athlete with a recently destroyed body from excess partying and injuries . I knew my body and if I could stay disciplined and listen to all the information and apply it in a smart way I would over time find what works better for me. I.E 16 ounces, 20 ounces, 24 ounces of water, maybe 28 ounces on humid days and 20 ounces on cooler days. I knew my calorie intake would be between 250 and 350 calories per hour based on 100’s of sources. However it was a matter of where those calories would come from and it was important to me that I put in my body the healthiest stuff I could afford that worked. There are unhealthy foods that work but they are not for me. I spoke with Dave Scott, Mark Allen’s staff, My Team in training coach who has done 9 Ironman’s with a best of 10 hrs 18 minutes at lake placid. They all had good advice that worked for them but some of it I just wouldn’t do. At the end of the day if the goal is to get good carbs, good fats and good proteins then that is the real goal not to eat a specific food. Many foods have good carbs in them not just the foods  that have helped someone in “their” ironman. So the advice I would receive would have to be filtered as to find the best carb and protein you can absorb that is also healthy for you. Not eat this or eat that. And if you cant absorb it then treat that problem first. Why cant you absorb it. Do you need a candida cleanse, Do you have healthy bacteria in your system, are you too acidic, are you dehydrated, etc

 I followed a training program In Don Finks book called Be Iron Fit. I did this because for one, after I read the book I knew the guy had a clue and what he taught resonated with me.  The training schedules seemed exactly the way I would have wanted them. As I was contemplating in December on using them I decided to do another century with Team in training and the weekly rides fit perfectly with my Don Fink’s training schedule. I then learned that my team in training coach and 7 of his friends had used Don Finks training schedule to do Lake Placid 2007 and 6 of them got PR’s. It is designed to not OVERTRAIN which I read is what most 1st timers do. That’s when I decided I was definitely going to follow it. I followed the 30 week Intermediate schedule. I felt I would go longer on the bike at times since I had century rides planned and that would put me closer to the competitive training schedule. I also knew I would fall short at times due to commitments, motivation, possible injury and at a minimum I would at least be doing the Just Finish Program if that happened.  I felt my running may have been too long at the beginning but I knew my bike would be long in may and june and I would cut back slightly on the running. I felt this was OK because I was doing lake placid which was a hilly bike course. In the process of training I wanted the best possible nutrient regimen. I got sport specific gene testing done as well as VO2 max testing. You can get your genes tested and a whole report on how your gene variations stack up as too your cardiovascular and power potential, your VO2 max potential, nutrients that would help you specifically based on these results etc.  I had already learned a ton but wanted the best edge I could get. It turns out my VO2 max potential according to the test was only a 39 because I am more of a power athlete. So on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being Kenyan endurance athletes and 10 being strong man weight lifters I am at about 6.8 which lends itself more to soccer players, baseball players, boxers, etc. However with training the 6.8 had a potential to get to about a 5. This ends up being true because my VO2 was tested at 49. I could also benefit from certain amino acids, Ginko, COQ10 and Omega 3;s (which I had already been taking) , Ginseng, Hydroxymethylbutyrate (HMB), a bunch of antioxidants to combat the extra lactic acid build up and oxidative stress, and caffeine of all things. Caffeine does not help everyone for genetic reasons but it is proven that some athletes do get an ergonomic benefit from it. I happen to be one of them according to my gene report so I take it in the form of yerba mate, guarana and in the Clif shots cola flavor which have caffeine.

            My training overall like I said was from the Don fink book. The key parts of the training for me was being able to swim 2.4 miles which I felt I could do by about February as a result of the Wednesday night swims. As far as biking I use the long bike to lose weight, stay aerobic, and strengthen the legs. You cant run for 9 hours but you can bike for 9 hours. Well you can run for 9 hours but it wouldn’t have been wise for a 210 pounder (by May 2008) to do that. My goal was to get to the starting line. I could see that a lot of first time ironman do not get to the starting line because they over train. I have friends training for their first ironman and they go out with “A” riders every time they bike. I know they are pushing zone 3 which is just under lactate threshold and I know this is not the way to train for an ironman. You need to stay aerobic (65 to 75%) of max heart rate (which almost feels easy which Is why people tend to push beyond this because their ego dictates. They also ride with faster riders. It is better to train with like ability or less ability riders for ironman.( Luis vargas told me this and he was right) and you need to do this 90% or more of the time. I actually did it 95% of the time because I was afraid of getting injured. I skipped almost all my speed workouts. Speed workouts are ok if you control the build up of them and you do long repeats of ¾ of a mile to a mile but this is just for those certain times of the race where you may go upper zone 3 such as the start of the swim, on a steep hill which there is only a couple in lake placid, and in transition if you go through it fast. Over time some speed workouts can increase your aerobic threshold so that you can actually go faster but still burn fat efficiently. (This is why 150 pounders win the race) I wasn’t worried about this for my first ironman. I wanted to finish in a time that I knew I could complete based on my training. My ironman motto is No Pace No Race. The way I figured it if I swam 100,000+ yards at 1.45 to 2 minutes per 100 yards then that was going to be my pace during the ironman outside of circumstances such as crowding, getting injured during the swim, etc. Same on the bike. If I averaged between 14 and 15 mph over 1000’s of miles and 4 century rides then that was going to be my pace for ironman outside of circumstances such as flats, weather, etc. You need to train the way you will race in ironman. I was told that, read that, and practiced it to confirm it to be true.  I also analyzed all the lake placid ironman times with a spread sheet and realized on average all the run times and overall times were lower for athletes with lower bike average times. I therefore prepared myself for 100’s of people passing me on the bike who had biking as there strength or who did not know the course. I had told Luis Vargas who is the Head coach for Mark Allan Online that I train slow and I don’t necessarily like pain unless I’m in a race. My resting heart rate is only 35 at this point so to get up to zone 3 (141 to 159) is hard for me without feeling pain. Forget about Zone 4 (Above 159 lactate threshold). He said this would work in my favor because I would not over train and he was right. The problems would come if I pushed it too much during a race and woke up old injuries. Massages therefore became critical. I haven’t had one since cross country season in college when I would go to the Westchester road runner in the back room and get them for 7 bucks from someone who did this for the PACE track team. I was referred to “Tomas” in Shelton who would turn out to be the same massage guy for Joe K KeithL and my good buddie Dennis White from Team in Training who wins his division in almost every race at age 55.

            My wife and kids would go up by train on Saturday and arrive by 2.30. By that time I would have been completely stress free with my bike checked, everything ready for Sunday morning, 2 good nights sleep, all my swim bike and runs done that I wanted to do to prepare myself mentally. All my visualizations were done. Etc. I knew sat night I would sleep 2 to 3 hours max. That’s fine. The extra adrenalin produced as a result of the lack of sleep will help me on race day. It makes you want to cry to see all the athletes prior to the race. People who have been through so much to get to this day. All of them have there own story, there own challenges to get there. God knows some are close to divorce just trying to get there based on the stories I overheard. You are so proud to be part of this elite group of athletes that overcame adversity and challenges and are going to be screaming at 46 miles per hour down a hill besides you on race day and punching you in the face during the swim while they do their breast stroke, and who may be telling you their life story on the long walk of the marathon.

            I went to race registration and was the 6th in line feeling good about being on schedule and my first sight was all the ironman T-shirts everyone was wearing. Of course a lot of them signed up last year after the race and have since did a few more. One guy did 38 ironmans. Impressive for sure but a few of us first timers got a bit smaller and smaller like in the cartoons as he boasted of doing Silverman and climbing 12000 feet on the bike and 6000 feet on the run. But then again he wasn’t a marine so I started to feel better. Just some pre-race competitive feelings. Its important to keep everything in perspective as I mentioned. In talking to Clint and Jen and others I know the first is the most special so in a way I didn’t let all the pre-race talk get to me.

My diet for the week was very simple. Salads and fruits and Spirulina protein drinks early in the week. I wanted to clean the digestive system. I took all my supplements such as Probiotics and enzymes, CoQ10, some herbal supplements. I didn’t want to take a chance getting a digestive cleaning at the health center which would lighten me up about 6 lbs but I could do it myself with the right foods. So a few days of a mini cleanse then on Wednesday I would start increasing the fluids and carbs. Smaller salads, berries, Quinoa, some pasta, liquid shakes of steel cut oats, cacao, oat milk, rice milk. All organic, easily digestible, full of alkalizing minerals. I also would increase my intake of Himalayan crystal salt and sea salt for a couple of days. By Saturday I would be full of electrolytes and minerals and fully hydrated. I would only drink when thirsty on Saturday. Most people over drink and flush out all the electrolytes and pee every 30 minutes. I ended up doing this myself on race day. I’ve done this so many times but have learned to control the drinking the day before but always worry about dehydrating on race day. . I watched Clifford the big red dog and some other cartoons. They relax me more than hearing about who got raped or murdered on the news channels. I had went on a 30 minute jog on Friday and after 15 minutes I did a few 100 yard pickups and felt a pull in my left hamstring. Great. I haven’t had a pulled hamstring since timberman a year before now I get one the weekend of a race. It was pulling now just when I walked. I had to go to the ART tent. ART hurts though. I never did it before. I kept stretching and by Saturday night I felt loose and most of the athletes were talking about taper pains so mentally I figured I was ok. But then I felt a pain in my toe. Whats that. I squeezed it a little and out comes puss. Yuk ingrown toenail before a race. I drenched it with stuff I hate to put on my body called anti-biotic cream and by the morning the swelling was down and I didn’t notice it all race day.

SWIM

I went for a swim on Friday morning. I did the whole loop in about 40 minutes which is about my race pace. Maybe a minute or two slower. I never raced 2.4 miles before but I was thinking there would be a drafting or whirlpool effect in the tight swim venue and there was a chance of a faster time but maybe offset by crowding but my estimate was 1:18 to 1:23 for the swim. I lined up about 2/3rd over from the bouy line and about 10 ft back. I was in a pool of great athletes with all kinds of looks in their eyes. Since I lined up near the front I suspected more experienced swimmers were around me. A lot of swimmers stand on the sides and wait till the canon goes off. Some swimmers swim really wide as can be seen by the below picture

All the buoys are connected by an underwater cable that you can see while your swimming but 2/3rd of the field seems to want to be on it. I breath through my left most of the time so I would swim on an angle towards the buoys as I had space on my left to do so. This worked out great. I felt strong. My first lap was around 38+ which is around my PR for 1.2 mile half ironman courses. On the second lap I did go right for the cable. There is a lot of crowding and kicking and scratching at first but since I’m in the top 10% of the biggest athletes out there I didn’t have much problem getting people off of me. I had goggle problems on the second loop. About 5 or 6 times after I passed a bouy I would slip behind it out of traffic and get the water out. It was getting in and making my eyes burn . Probably from all the pee. Which I contributed to twice during the swim.  As I exited the water it was a torrential downpour. I didn’t realize it was raining during the swim. You run about 400 yards or so on a carpet to the changing tents with people screaming all around you. I felt good. I wanted to go around people walking on the carpet but the metal racks that lined the shoot had legs that stuck out and its easy to catch your foot on them so I played it safe and got around these people and kept running. I love swimming. I think because I never swam in lakes or oceans before last year and it is such a free feeling and you feel like your moving so fast in the water. I got to the changing tent and was ankle deep in mud and water with no chairs to sit on. It was insane, hot and humid and cloudy in there. It reminded me of when I was in Korea and we spent all day setting up tents in ankle deep mud and had to figure out a way to sleep comfortably in it. It was crazy but awesome at the same time. At the start of the race the announcer said today was going to be about attitude and he couldn’t have been more right. He then said you were all going to be IRONMEN by the end of the day. If this didn’t bring a tear or two to the eyes nothing would. You knew you had to earn it though. When I went to bootcamp it was the same feeling. At the start before you go to bootcamp you figure OK it will be hard but I will do it. But then as the first few days went by you wondered if you would make it. So many people would quit those first few days and the drill instructors kept saying you weren’t going to become a marine that easily and you were going to have to get through them first. And the ironman for me was the same. Thinking OK I could do this but today was payday. I knew I was doing an ironman on one of the hardest courses on probably one of the worst weather days in ironman history as reported on their website and I was going to have to pay the price to get that title with the unknown staring me in the face.

            So the swim went ok However I would have other problems as noted later. I had taken a gel about 10 minutes before the swim. I wanted to take another at the half way point but your out of the water and in for a second loop with no water available. My swim was 1:21 which was 1 minute from where I expected it to be. I told my wife about 1:20 before the race

Bike

My goal for the bike was 7.5 hours. I felt this was possible but with the rain I figured a 7.45. I ended up around 8:04. I am just slow on the bike. I do not like to hammer it because I just knew I had a marathon afterwards and I wanted to have legs left. At 200+ lbs it is just hard to get up hills. Ive only been biking since march of 2007. That was my first 25 mile ride with team in training and I needed ice packs after that ride. After changing I ran to where the bikes were and as I ran through ankle deep mud I was happy that before I came to lake placid I decided to switch my pedals from my speed plays to my mountain bike pedals. The cleats are indented into the shoe and its easier to clip in and out as well as run with. They are also designed to be able to handle muddy conditions. I screamed out my bike number but was running so fast that I got to the bike before the volunteer. It was pouring so bad you could hardly see through your bike glasses. When I came to the lake placid training camp it poured on the second loop right before I made the 2nd decent into Keene so I had practice going down hill in pouring weather so I wasn’t concerned about that. In fact I screamed by Jeff Umbreit at 45 mph on the downhill while in the upright position trying to slow down. I saw Jeff in transition and on the bike. I was on his tail and knew I just needed to stay slow. If he was in sight maybe I was going to fast. At the camp I did my first loop in 3.45 so was expecting about a 3.40 figuring with tapering and all. But the rain would slow me down. I was cold with just a short sleeve shirt on. I also had to socialize with over 500 athletes that just had to know if Will Power was my real name. Almost every person that passed me asked me about my name tag. Some were saying it was the most awesome name bib they saw. Pretty weird.

The scenery was nice but you could hardly see it or enjoy it. You had to ride as if your life depended on it. And it did. I had my new aero helmet on with a flip up visor. Most of the athletes were not wearing glasses. In fact I saw them throw them aside in disgust. It was good to flip down my visor when on a down hill when the rain just cut through you and would blind you as it hit my eyes. The course was just as hilly as I remembered it. The toughest part for me is the climb out of lake placid and the climb up to Wilmington when you first make the left on route 86 after route 9n. Much is said about the hills at the end labeled Little and Big Cherry, And mama bear baby bear and papa bear but those are not the toughest. There are people cheering you going up papa bear in a long line and you feel like your in the tour de France. I crossed the first loop feeling good . I wanted to do the second loop in under 4 hours but I was having major over hydration problems. I was drinking less that I planned because there was no heat. Maybe 20 ounces per hour and I peed no joke about 8 times during the entire bike ride. I knew something was wrong. Was I taking in too much or not enough sodium. I honestly didn’t think 20 ounces was a lot for me. I couldnt figure it out. But the overhydration was worse on the run. MY other issue was a headache I had starting getting about 80 miles. This headache wouldn’t go away until I had about 10k left on the run. Ive never had a headache on a bike ride. I was freezing and my lips were numb. Maybe that contributed.

             I only carried 1 nutrition bottle with me on the bike. I weigh enough and didn’t want to carry much. During training I was always carrying as much as possible. 4 nutrition bottles, a camel back, etc. I would make my bottle more concentrated so I could feel like my bike was lighter on race day. I practiced this on a century ride. I picked up the second bottle at the special needs area which was ice cold because I put it in a cooler bag with ice packs. It consisted of Heed, Hemp seed, coconut oil and water. I would take 3 ounces per half hour. I also took two margarita shot blocks per half hour. Total calories was 357 per half hour and total sodium was about 500 mg per hour.

RUN

I saw my wife and kids and some sharks as I pulled in off the bike . I felt sooo bad for everyone who was standing in the rain all day. I knew my wife and kids who came up by train  on Saturday had barely slept a wink on Friday and Saturday and she had to stand in the rain for much of the day. When I saw my kids they could hardly keep their eyes open. They were so proud of me and I was more proud of them. They saw me go to swim workouts 3 times a week in the early mornings and Friday nights and wed nights. What seemed like all day Saturday bike rides and Sunday runs. Endless noise from my blender to make smoothies and it all culminated after that final loop RUN of the ironman. When I first entered the transition tent the water was 6 inches deep at parts. I opened my transition bag and everything was dry because I had put a bungee cord around the top of it in case it rained. My feet were all crinkled from being soaked on the bike. I was expecting major blisters. That’s usually my problem on a run. I would put so much Vaseline on my feet that I somehow avoided the blisters on the entire run. My problem came from over hydrating. I was only drinking maybe 16 ounces per hour at this point. My goal was to run the first half marathon then walk the second half at a speed walk which I practiced at Moosman. I ran out of the changing tent on the run with the oldest guy at the race. I was bumping into him everywhere and we ran the first few miles together. He is a funny guy. Very humble.  If I could run some of the second half without risking not finishing or finishing with some overuse injury I would. I would walk up the steep hills if needed also. I ended up running for 14 miles. I had started to speed walk and it just felt so much easier than running. I had a choice do I torture myself or just walk the rest. I was running and saw desiree ficker walking with a coat on. She had a rough day. A lot of people did. You see crashes, people throwing up and walking wobbly. Anything could happen out there and there are no guarantees you are going to finish no matter who you are and that’s what makes finishing great. I wasn’t taking any chances on my first ironman. I was feeling ok but something was going on. You don’t pee 50 times in 16 hours without there being some imbalance somewhere. I think the few days before were humid and I was concerned that race day would be hot and I loaded up on sodium on my food. Your body retains water that way better. Mine retained a whole reservoir apparently. I knew I would finish at the pace I was walking and it  was STILL pouring. My head was still hurting. Did I need caffeine? Was it a sodium imbalance. I visited every porto potty on the course. No joke. If I drank 4 ounces of water then the next porta potty I was peeing 8 ounces. A guy next to me I would pass speed walking while he was running. Then I would go into a potty and he would pass me. Then I would catch up to him again. This went on and on for 16 miles or so. He was joking that he called his wife and requested she have them put out more potty’s so he could beat me after all I was visiting every one. I was sick of gels and I don’t drink soda. I tried the chicken soup two or three times. It didn’t always agree with me. I had like 10 orange slices over the 2nd loop. I knew the vitamin C would help with recovery and it was the most natural thing on the course along with the bananas and grapes. My legs actually felt great the entire marathon course. I didn’t want to run though. There was no pain walking except for the headache and lower back aches from my kidneys seeming like they wanted to burst. I think when there is an electrolyte problem maybe the body is trying to flush out excess or something. I don’t know. But no one pees 50 times in a race . Maybe I’m a first. You always worry about dehydrating because you know that will cost you the race so I drank maybe 8 ounces per hour the last hour and that’s it. I apparently don’t sweat that much at all when its less humid and chilly. I probably only needed like 12 ounces per hour or less on the bike instead of 20 especially since I was only averaging 14 miles per hour. I just don’t like to pound it out on the bike on those long rides. An Olympic or a sprint yeah no problem I will get out of the saddle a little. In this race I saw tons of people out of the saddle for like 10to 15 seconds then collapsing into their seats and Im thinking are they crazy how do they do that without burning up all the glycogen in their muscles. I think you could stay in the saddle the whole race. But what do I know after an 8 hour split. I mainly go slow because I will just burn out quicker than other people if I push the intensity on long rides and with a marathon afterwards I had no idea what to expect. I never ran more than a 10k after a bike ride and that was after an Olympic tri. Even my half irons I walked the half marathons. And I never ever ran after a 112 mile bike ride so this was part of the race day mystery. I had to rely on all my training coming together on race day.

             It was dark during the last 10k of the run. I started to run and felt good still but I stopped. I knew my insurance card was walking. If I kept running I didn’t know what was ahead. A cramp, dizziness, a pulled muscle, low blood sodium from over hydrating. Will Power wasn’t taking any chances. I will be a hero on future IRONMAN races but for now I was thinking even at my pace I would break 16 hours and that was good enough for a finishers medal. I still had to push my bike and carry my bags to my car. I had a week vacation ahead of me and didn’t want to pound my quads any further. I was proud of that decision the day after.

            Bats were flying around my head. I had on a visor and I think they thought my head was a nest or something.  I wanted to get to that finish. Even walking at a 14 minute mile seems to take forever when you got 10k, then 5k to go. I knew it was going to be emotional for me because I was tearing up after the first loop. I saw my wife before the out and back. I felt so bad for them being out there so late. She has made as much sacrifices as I have for me to get to that finish line.

I saw my daughter and she ran across the finish with me. My legs felt great the last mile and I was able to run it in for the last ¼ of a mile or so with the crowds. I enjoyed my first ironman despite the bad weather. I kept a good attitude during the whole race and it was that much sweeter finishing on that tough course on a tough day. I feel for all those people who didn’t finish  I know they need to get back up dust themselves off and go at it again.

Where do I go from here. I am signed up for next years lake placid however I will decide over the next few days whether to go on line and make the payment. I am also signed up for the Greenwich triathlon on Sunday July 27th. That’s only a week away but is a flat course for the most part. I will decide on Saturday if I want to just cruise that tri as a cool down and to treat the post race depression. The Park City Olympic is on Aug 10th, Mayflower International in Plymouth mass is on August 30th and Westchester Olympic in September

All the volunteers were great at the race. People were soaked screaming for you. I heard rumors that the crowd support was less than last year because of the downpours but hats off to everyone who came out to cheer especially all the sharks. Cara and Allison had to stand in pouring rain all day then go back to what was probably a lake of mud at their camp site.

            The morning after I felt pretty good. I was able to jog about 100 yds just to test what was hurting and what needed attention. The sore parts on me were the outer quads and the trapezoid muscles in the shoulder area. My calves didn’t bother me at all and they are what gave me the most problems in training. Go figure.

Every piece of advice you get for ironman is good but only some of it you may use or need depending on your situation. Some of the best advice I heard came from multiple different places. Either in a blog or from Dave Scott himself (Who is the head coach for team in training as mentioned)

The best pieces of advice I had through my journey were the following

1 – You will never have another 1st ironman. Enjoy every second even if its 100 degrees or 20 degrees. I knew as a Clydesdale athlete being one of only 100 or so people over 200 lbs that I was not going to win the race. So what was the difference between 13 hours and 15 hours for purposes of remembering my day. It wasn’t much. My own competitive nature however did not want to finish in 17 hours. I knew that much. I also knew based on my training pace I would not break 13.5 hours. It just wasn’t in my abilities if the weather was perfect, there was no porto potties, the goggles didn’t fill up with water, no flats, there were tail winds the whole race and I collapsed in exhaustion at the finish line. To push at a faster pace than what I trained in the swim or bike would mean an unevenly paced ironman and overall slower time. If I were to go fast on the bike it was more than likely I would crash and burn big time. So a great race would be one where I didn’t cramp, I didn’t have mechanical problems or crashes, I didn’t have to visit the porto potty 50 times and I always felt happy. The porto potty one came true but probably only cost me about 30 to 45 minutes. But if My body needed to do that then I respect that and Im glad it did because the body is amazing in its ability to deal with something wrong and I know it helped me get through this ironman after making poor hydrating decisions.

In fact My A race and B race times that I created mid way through training which I did not hit are listed below

As  I got closer to race day I adjusted my swim expectation times to 1:20 my bike to 7.45 and my run to 5 hours. My run turned out to be  6 hours and my bike was about 8 hrs. Ive learned that you can have some time expectations based on the paces you train at but don’t focus on it too much because it could ruin your race if you ignore what your body is telling you or the conditions are on race day.

Goals I set around april 2008 which I still don’t think are unreasonable or unattainable (the swim times and bike times for sure are attainable) but it wasn’t in the cards for me on Sunday.

A Race

> Swim   1:24:00 1:59 per 100 yds
> T1        5:00:00
> Bike     7:27:59  15mph
> T2        8:00:00
> Run     4:48:00   10:59 pace
> Total   13:53:59

B race

1:27:00 2:03 per 100 yds

t1    6 min

7:45:00 14.45 mph

t2    9 min

4:59:00   11:24 pace

Total  14:26:00

2 – Train in your aerobic zone. This is critical for training your body to burn fat. Even the pros need to stay aerobic or they will collapse.

Albeit they could go 7 minute miles or better on the run and keep there heart rate at 75%

3 – Keep a high cadence on the bike and run (80 to 85 per minute on the bike and 80 to 90 per minute for each left foot strike on the run) Some people feel comfortable with 90 or more cadence on the bike but I don’t. This will spare your muscle and liver glycogen and prevent you from bonking

4 – Do not lose much weight on the bike. For me I sweat about 2 lbs an hour on the bike in humid weather. I need to drink 24 ounces per hour (give or take 4 to 5 ounces depending on humidity) and I needed 325 calories per hour spread out over the first 7 hours (The last 45 minutes I would just hydrate and let the nutrition digest completely). I also wait 20 minutes into the bike to eat or drink anything in order to let the muscle memory turn on for biking as well as the blood flow to get to the legs as soon as possible.

It obviously wasn’t humid so I screwed up. I was so focused on not crashing and not dehydrating on the run that I overdrank

5 – Do not sacrifice technique for speed on the swim. Technique is probably 80% of swimming. I changed my technique in June and took 10 seconds per 100 yards  off my time. Went to more of a catch up stroke.

6 – Electrolyte intake and hydrating correctly based on the weather is important but its difficult to figure out. I had pro athletes tell me at my size I should take 1000mg of sodium per hour. I believed it because I was cramping. I learned the cramping was from intensity. You need to build up to go fast and hard. Its not always lack of sodium. I learned I need only 500 mg per hour or less or more depending on weather and now I could go harder with no cramping.  Also, potassium, magnesium, and calcium are also very important not just sodium. You need magnesium to absorb the sodium and the other minerals keep you alkaline which help keep inflammation low , etc. Also I’ve met athletes that have one water bottle for a whole century ride. Everyone needs different amounts

7- You don’t need insane bricks. I always did just 15 minutes on my brick runs until the last month where I increased them to 30 minutes. I always felt this was enough because it only took that long to get into my running groove where then my running ability took over. I went to a tri camp and this was confirmed by Mark Allen. Again this ended up working for me. Some people may feel they need to ride 50 miles and run 10 miles to get the mental edge they need. My mental edge comes from tapering and bringing all the 3 sports together on race day as well as knowing I am in the best nutritional shape possible for that day.. So this is another area where there are multiple ways to get to the same goal. The goal for me was to finish and not have to go to the hospital afterwards )( or during). You also get good bricks in by doing a half ironman and like 2 olympics and a sprint as part of your training schedule for ironman.

8 – Other first timer advice. Get a bike fit early on its important, don’t change too much on race day unless you specifically want to test something under race conditions for whatever reason, Be organized – Get everything ready the night before. Use the morning for adding water to your nutrition bottles, your pre-race meal, checking in at the race, and the 4 times you wait in the porto potty line. Also keep your nutrition consistent. I have a spreadsheet I use to figure out the water, calories and electrolytes I need per 30 minutes depending on the length of the bike ride. And you have to take into consideration calories and electrolytes from gels, shot blocks, and in my case coconut water also, etc.

9 – Eat right. – A low glycemic, Alkaline diet of smoothies, salads and superfoods. This is 90% of my diet. I know most people cannot do this but your body if you think about it knows what is from the earth not what is in the factories. Sometimes for simplicity, speed, and cost, we go to powders, gels, etc for all our training (Some are organic and better than others) but outside of training is when your body is dealing with all the oxidative damage, inflammation, healing, rebuilding etc from all the training. Your body wants clean sources of protein and fats at this time and easily absorbable, low glycemic carbs that aren’t going to shoot up your insulin and cortisol levels constantly. These are both major agers. You need extra antioxidants when you train for ironman. CoQ10, Lycopene, Quercitin, Alpha-lipoic acid, green vegetables and berries every day even if only in powder form which I do a lot for convenience. Also, take natural anti-inflammatories daily. In weeks 24 to 27 of a 30 week schedule when your doing a century one day and 3 hour run the next you need to train your body to heal in less than 24 hours. Nasty food will only hinder this process although depending how young you are, you may get away with it more because the immune system is stronger and hasn’t started to take the nose dive that it does starting at age 35.

    ONE OF THE GREATEST FEELINGS YOU CAN HAVE IN YOUR LIFE IS YOUR FIRST IRONMAN FINISHPictures and full report in ms word document atwww.organic-athlete.com/imlp2008.doc

This weekend I took a break from my normal routing to attend Mark Allens Training camp in New Jersey. It was filled with lectures. The best part was having access to experienced elite amatur triathletes who attended the camp as well as the instructur Luis Vargas who did a great job of sharing his ironman experiences (He has done Kona 6 times with a PR of 9.30) This includes an 11.20  Kona at a weight of 195 lbs. Being 205 myself I can appreciate taht effort more than anything because his sweat rate is over 3 lbs per hour and you need to really pace yourself properly  to not overheat and burn out at that weight. The good news was I got in 2 runs of 1 hr and 90 minutes with no soleus issues. Next weekedn is Lake placid training camp which includes a 13 mile hilly run  and the 112 mile bike course and the 2.4 open water swim. Most of my swims are in the pool outside of the races that I do like moosman) so this is an important training swim. Im looking forward to pacing myself on the bike and seeing the courses so I could finalize race day strategy.

I had the Moosman Half Ironman in New hamphshire this weekend. It was about 95 degrees but I have trained in the heat and I think it is good for overall preparedness because you can better test your hydration and and get your nutrition down. A lot of tri’s are in the heat and the better trained athlete for he heat will have an edge. The swim was great. I never swam in 57 degrees but the cool water is awesome I like it. I was out of the water in just under 38 minutes which was a 9 minute PR for this distance.  The bike was a partial disaster but good training. I got a flat within 1 minute of leaving transition. However I got to practice changing a flat in live conditions and realized my CO 2 canister was not good.  It averaged 16 mph per my garmin and about 14.7 for the official time because of the flat. 3.28 per the garmin and about 3.45 official time. This was a 30 minute PR since my first half ironman.  I walked the run. My soleus hurt slightly. It has only been two weeks and I need about another week to recover so it was a good chance to practice speed walking which will come in handy on the run at placid up the hills as well as most likely a large portion of the last half of the run. I also got to spend more time in the heat acclimating.

I didnt run this week. I wanted to heel the soleus and I had Lake tahoe century coming up this weekend. Lake Tahoe is a hilly century. There are flats and downhills but the hills are in the last 20 miles as well as a really steep hill at mile 14 that goes on for about a mile. I had a good ride. I finished with a 6:38 bike time. Avg mph was 16 which was about 1.4 mph higher than I want to average in Lake placid. I need to stay aerobic in placid despite the climbing. I spin well and hills below 8% grade I can handle. Gravity really takes a toll on me when hills approach 8 to 12 % and beyond

I Went up to Boston to do a half marathon this weekend. I had read t was flat and for the most part it was but there were defientely some hills over bringes and highways and it was hotter than I anticipated. I felt a slight pain in the soleus muscle in my left leg just below the calf. It didnt seem that bad but it hurt afterwards. I hate stopping in races so I kept going. I pushed the pace a little more than I should of.

Another Great weekend of training. 2 hrs of hills on saturday followed by 62 miles on the bike on sunday. I did the bloomin metric (100 kilometers) in Norwalk CT. A nice course with rolling hills throughout. About 3600 feet of climbing in total. I did the ride with team in training. I wanted to push my pace a little more than previous rides. As a result I was the first team in training rider back at the finish. I wanted to finish before the rain started also which I did. I had my usual organic vegan fluids on the bike topped off with some organic clif shot blocks to the tune of 2 or 3 per hour. The ride was done in about 4 hours with a 15.2 mile per hour average. Not bad for a 6 ft 1 inch 208 lbs athlete who just started biking 15 months previously. In fact last year most of my rides were 3 miles per hour less in average. Biking is probably my weakest followed by swimming. Even though my running isn’t that fast it is still better than the other two sports for several reason. 1 - My discipline to control my ego on the bike and swim. I always pass many people on the run in a triathlon. 2 - I have 25 years of running experience. Once my weight gets down to sub -Clydesdale numbers I will be pound for pound better than most athletes of my size. In college as a 175 lb athlete I was 25 lbs heavier than 95% of the athletes yet I was better than about 40% of them in the 800 meter, the 5000 and the 10,000 meter. Its not a big deal at the end of the day. We all do this for many reasons and the biggest being to stay fit and to have a lot of fun in a sport we love. Yet, I am genetically very competitive in everything I do. Even in grammar school I always wanted to get the highest score on every test I took. In fact I did just that. You can be much better at anything you focus on. I am writing a book called organic awakening. It is the culmination of many years of eye opening awakenings in regards to the power of some of the best foods on earth and how becoming a vegan can cleanse you of so much bad energy. The ironman experience is one of the greatest on the planet. It should be on everyones list of things to do before I die.